Racing’s capacity to turn the whip debate into some impossible “Three Cup Problem” seems limitless. Ultimately, the whip shouldn’t be an issue at all: either allow it or don’t. It really is a straightforward choice. Or at least it ought to be.
Instead, the British Horseracing Authority continues its policy of trying to pull off a convoluted third way that complicates things unnecessarily, satisfies practically no one, and leaves an entire sport tearing its hair out just weeks before its biggest meeting of the year at Cheltenham.
Those of a mathematical mind probably know the famous puzzle involving one upside down cup and two cups right side up; the objective is to turn all three right side up, the catch being that two of them must be turned over each time.
It can’t be done, and nearly as futile an exercise is half allowing the whip and half curtailing it. Yet that’s the BHA move when it introduces new whip rules on Monday that aren’t so much a fudge as a massive self-inflicted swamp for the sport to get stuck in.
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A trial period in recent weeks has seen cross-channel racing twist itself in knots over attempts to restrict and adapt jockeys’ use of the whip for what are essentially cosmetic purposes.
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Such has been the uproar that one step outlawing whip use in the forehand position was binned in return for limiting jockeys to seven strikes. Another regulation that bans raising the whip above shoulder height continues to create problems.
Altering whip style has been likened to a golfer changing their swing, something that takes time and isn’t an option for jockeys based in Ireland who will be expected to adapt to cross-channel rules on the spot at Cheltenham.
The potential for hysterical headlines and reputational carnage is obvious, as is the need to acknowledge how, ultimately, racing must resolve an inherent contradiction at the heart of all this.
If, as most everyone agrees, the modern foam whip doesn’t hurt horses if used correctly, then the problem isn’t welfare but appearances.
Jockeys striking horses to make them go faster can look anachronistic and sometimes plain unsightly. Since animal welfare is only going to become a more important issue in increasingly progressive societies, racing’s self-interest is bound up in maintaining its social contract.
Nevertheless, even those of us urging the initiative to be taken by at least trialling whips used just for safety purposes can acknowledge how such a move is open to accusations of pandering to ignorance.
Public perception is important. But neither should optics trump substance and if the whip doesn’t hurt horses, but rather relies on sound to encourage their flight instinct, it is legitimate for racing to show the courage of its convictions and stand over that claim.
Gauging the depth of popular concern surrounding use of the whip is anything but precise. The capacity for a small but vocal minority to dictate the narrative around such an emotive issue is unprecedented, leading to fears about the whip just being the thin end of a wedge for the sport. However, dismissing critics in cartoon snowflake terms is dangerously self-indulgent. Social attitudes to animal welfare have changed dramatically in a generation. Few can predict for sure what another generational change will mean.
Racing needs to decisively take the initiative on welfare, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because its long-term sustainability is tied up in doing so. But the BHA’s new steps are depressingly indecisive, neither one thing nor the other, and at precisely the wrong time.
The result is a constituency up in arms. Willie Mullins summed it up when slamming the timing of these changes as a case of racing shooting itself in the foot. It’s hard to believe the anti-whip lobby is satisfied either with what is basically tinkering at the edges. The result is exasperation on all sides.
If there’s still widespread reluctance to try the whip-less route it is entirely legitimate for racing to go in the opposite direction by doubling down on what it says is on the tin: that the whip doesn’t hurt horses if used correctly.
Securing public confidence about that is crucial. But it won’t be secured by various committees and consultation groups endlessly changing fiddly details about how many strikes are allowed, and from what angle, in races worth a certain amount of money on a particular day.
That ducks the central issue about standing over the modern whip or not.
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If the answer is yes, then educating popular opinion on what modern day whips are is vital because what they aren’t are the sort of implements wielded by Lester Piggott back in the day of desperate Derby finishes on Roberto and The Minstrel.
In fact, rather than commissioning yet more “expertise” on the matter, a much more constructive first step could be to engage popular opinion directly with racing figures the public admires.
At the risk of turning into a one-string banjo on this, an appearance by someone such as Rachael Blackmore on a prime-time TV show like Graham Norton could achieve more in a single minute than years of committee footling.
The sound of just one crack across the palm of Norton’s hand might provide invaluable reassurance to millions about how there is more to this than just meets the eye.
Something for the weekend
This weekend’s action has a second division feel to it but FANION D’ESTRUVAL (2.25) at Newbury on Saturday dons first-time cheekpieces and trainer Venetia Williams is among the winners again. The likely favourite Hitman always looks one to take on at a short price.
TEMPTATIONINMILAN (4.10) could relish decent ground conditions at Navan on Sunday.
